This article was written by Ken Leaver who comes from a product & commercial background. He has founded multiple companies and held senior product positions at SEA tech companies like Lazada and Pomelo Fashion.
Ken runs his own agency that helps early stage companies execute faster and cheaper. Check out his linkedin at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenleaver/
Guest Author: Ken Leaver
I foresee “systems” replacing the importance of “communication” in management more and more in the decades to come
I was finishing up watching an interview of a product leader on Lenny’s podcast and he’d talked a lot about the value of understanding people, developing relationships, etc.
It’s a common tune of lots of leaders. And so you hear it a lot.
I like to refer to it these days as the “playbook of the last few decades”
But I think things are going to change in the coming decades. And by change… I mean change a LOT.
Why? Because i’ve been using systems where I challenge these ideas for several years now and I honestly think they work far better.
Actually scratch that.. I don’t think.
I know they work a ton better.. because i see the speed at which i operate using these concepts vs. startups who ‘think’ that they work fast. And so far in 3+ years I haven’t seen an org that comes even close.
Why is this?
Well by avoiding investing in relationships you have a better work culture, less politics, and you just get more stuff done faster and more transparently.
Also the ‘best communicators’ do not become your leaders. The best strategists and the best at getting high quality work done fast do.
And they do so by following disciplined systems like my “Everything is a task” method, or something similar.
A number of friends/peers have challenged me on this idea and the way that I like to respond is by referring to first principles and asking the question ‘why’ a lot.
For example…
Me: Why do you need to develop relationships with your colleagues?
Them: Well because I need to align with them to support my initiatives.
Me: But what if you all just followed a solid system that led to alignment and then helped each other quickly because it was the system?
etc.
Of course everyone remains skeptical… till they actually see it in action.
What does a system that is designed based on the philosophy that you don’t try to get to know anyone look like after a year or two?
Does it blow up?
Right now these ideas seem almost heretic… but i know of a number of others that are using similar concepts to me and getting similar kick-ass results.
Let’s change the game 😉
